| The Christian Medical Commission was asked by the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations of the United Presbyterian Church (USA)to discuss and evaluate a programme proposal for the coordination of community health services at the primary health worker level, with a view to preventing, detecting, and treating, as early as possible, all illnesses. It would involve a survey of the community, a definition of priorities, an assessment of the possibilities of coordination, and the development of a health team to implement the findings. Programme effectiveness would be measured by monitoring certain health parameters. The CMC criticisms of the proposal were threefold: (1)its authors seemed not to appreciate the radical change in hospital priorities that the proposal would demand and the fact that hospital staff might be unwilling to accommodate this change; (2)the proposal was vague on survey objectives and methodology, primary health worker training methods, and the fuction of (and relationships between)each member of the health team; and (3)it was questionable whether one model would be applicable to a number of local institutions different in terms of geography, culture, and situation. |